Salt the shrimp
Pat the shrimp dry, season lightly with salt and rest 10 minutes while you prep the garlic.
Recipes › Gambas al Ajillo
Gambas al Ajillo
Spanish garlic shrimp in deeply aromatic olive oil: sweet garlic, chile and smoked paprika around shrimp cooked fast enough to stay tender.
Jump to RecipeAI-generated serving illustration. It is not a photograph of a tested batch or a doneness reference.
The Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Infuse the oil gently
Warm the olive oil with bay leaf over low heat. If you have shells or heads, add them now for 6 to 8 minutes, pressing gently, then strain and return the oil to the pan.
Cook the garlic pale, not brown
Add sliced garlic and dried chile to warm oil and bring slowly to a gentle sizzle, 2 to 3 minutes, until the garlic is pale gold.
Bloom the paprika
Pull the pan briefly off direct heat and stir in smoked paprika for 10 seconds.
Cook the shrimp fast
Raise to medium-high. Add shrimp in one layer and cook 60 to 90 seconds per side until just opaque.
Deglaze and finish
Add sherry and let it bubble about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, add parsley and lemon zest, taste for salt, and serve immediately with bread.
OPTIONAL UPGRADE
Flavor Bomb
Keep the core recipe clean, or flip this on for one or two high-impact upgrades.
How to know it's done
Use these recipe-specific texture cues. Color and curl alone cannot establish safety; use a thermometer to check 145°F / 63°C at the thickest part for cooked shrimp.
ShrimpSense Notes
The little details that make a big difference.
Garlic has its own timer
Pale gold is fragrant. Brown is bitter. Build the oil before the shrimp goes in.
Oil is the sauce
Use enough good olive oil to spoon up with bread; this is not a dry sauté.
Large shrimp buy control
16/20 to 21/25 gives you time to perfume the oil without overcooking the meat.
Zest, not juice
Lemon zest brightens without breaking the oily sauce.